MASSIVE randomness

I've had a lot on my mind today so here is a glance (okay it turned into a novel) of what is going on around here...

FRIGID!!!

It is so cold in our house that my oldest daughter has resorted to sitting on top of the heat vents when she plays. Why you might ask would we turn our heat down in the winter??? We had an $800 utility bill this month!!! I almost fell out when I saw it and so we had to turn the thermostat from our toasty 72 to a very chilly 67. Who can afford that? Our dogs will also no longer enjoy the luxury of us running a heater in the garage for them on these frigid nights, and my laundry room will just have to stay 35 degrees. Sigh. But I refuse to give up the space heater for the 40 minutes I spend in the bathroom for my shower and getting Addie and I dressed! It is SO cold in the master bath that you will literally sit there shivering if you don't have something to knock off the chill (and I was running it all day since we are in and out). Yes we live in an old house but for crying out loud, we have new vinyl windows and a relatively new heating unit, AND we don't use the upstairs... so nothing is on up there ever (and 72 isn't that warm in this house, it's actually kind of cold)! What the heck??? If the things I've done to reduce our bill don't work this month then the house is going on the market next month!!! No way around it because we'll go bankrupt trying to pay a giant bill month after month!

Dieting...

I got tired of having to wear a "body slimmer" to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans and dresses so I decided to start watching my calories. I got a little out of control over the holidays with my eggnog and chocolate milk consumption and barely drank anything else but water...and then I discovered Target's mint chocolate milk... oh my heavens, it was DELICIOUS!!! But I was taking in like 1800 calories in JUST DRINKS per day... not to mention I ate whatever the heck I wanted...Gross. Since I exclusively nurse Livy I am supposed to eat 1500-1800 calories a day. I started keeping up with my calories and in ONE month I lost 6 pounds just by watching what I ate! I weighed more than I was comfortable with before I got pregnant, so I have about 20 pounds to lose to fit into my "skinny" clothes, 10 of that is still baby weight. I can't wait to be myself again and comfortable in my own skin! And all the shivering I'm doing now that our house is cold has surely got to make me burn some calories, right?! Luckily my Mom, sis, and best friends are watching their calories too so we all encourage one another and keep tabs on what we are each eating with our online food diaries! Love you ladies!!! And I'm happy to report that I now fit into pre-pregnancy jeans and a few of my dresses without a slimmer! Hallelujah!

Spit up and poop...

Livy is the spit up QUEEN. I know now to expect the "flow" after each burp and get puked on pretty often... It's not fun!!! I am hoping this slows down when she starts sitting up... And the child won't poop. She has nasty rank gas all day every day but we rarely see any poop around here. What poop we do see is normal, but just small amounts... Who would've thought I'd ever be so interested in poo???

Addie...

has shown a little more jealousy since the novelty of new baby has worn off. She still is incredibly sweet and loving to Livy but if I take a picture of Livy she wants her picture made. And if I get excited about Livy putting weight on her feet, Addie promptly points out that she can stand too! I've been trying to make sure I get excited about the little things Addie does that are "out of the ordinary" now and I've noticed a difference. Addie still loves to hold her sissy and likes to help me with her but Addie is at her happiest when it is just "our" time during bath time, Livy's naps, or bedtime, though she still wants to be all over Livy while Livy sleeps! I make sure that I make time for just the two of us even if it is just while I cook dinner and Addie loves it. The funny thing is Livy loves "us" time too! Luckily she wakes up about 2 hours before Addie does, so we have a lot of time together and then she goes down for a nap about the time Addie is waking up so it works well. Addie and Livy have a sweet bond between them though and Addie knows just what to do to keep sister happy. The other day I don't know where the heck I was but Mom and Dad were in the foyer at church with the girls. Livy's bottom lip started to tremble when she realized I wasn't near and Addie saw it and started to "fake" laugh. Livy immediately started smiling. When Livy's lip started quivering again Addie did it again and kept Livy happy until I got her back. Addie can make Livy laugh out loud and I love it.

Livy

is such a happy little girl. My little round bundle is so fun to squeeze and her cheeks are so darn kissable! She's drastically changed this past month and is so much more animated and her little personality is really showing. She is very much a Momma's girl but she will now let Jarom, Mom, and Dad hold her without a meltdown and has been okay when I've left her for up to two hours with Mom or Jarom! Definitely an improvement! She finds it HILARIOUS when I have her pretend to box with Daddy because he is so animated with it. Her little laugh warms my soul. At least something is warm around here!

Need for spring!

Winter is so depressing to me!!! The gray skies and cold air are almost enough to send me packing us up for a warmer climate. It has been unusually cold this winter and we've had TWO huge snows (huge meaning more than an inch, though everything shut down, haha!). This is Alabama people... we don't get snow!!! Usually we have a few days in January that are "flip flop" weather that hold me until spring, but not this time. I'm even itching to get out in my massive amounts of flower beds and start tidying it all up... and I'm not a yard person!

Sad...

I have only a handful of ladies that I can truly call "best" friends (besides of course my sis and mom). Ones I can share ANYTHING with. When Victoria moved here we didn't really even get a chance to talk until my Aunt Margaret placed her as my visiting teacher almost a year later... I swear it was divine inspiration!!! It was like I found my girlfriend "soul mate", haha!!! She stepped into my front door and I asked that she take her shoes off (remember we don't allow shoes in the house) and she said "OF course! We don't allow shoes in our house either!!!" and the rest is history, LOL! I don't have to filter a single word that comes out of my mouth for fear of what she might think of me (which is SO refreshing) and we are so much alike that its truly a little scary, haha! We even survived giving each other a baby shower which probably would've broken us if we weren't so open with each other since we are both perfectionists and procrastinators! She's seen me at my absolute worst, sobbing, swollen face, makeup-less, in the midst of a miscarriage, and helped me out when I was in need. We went through pregnancy together, along with another best friend Ashley, and the whole experience just brought us all that much closer. Since they are a military family they just found out that they will be moving to TX this September, and while I'm happy they get to stay a little longer than planned I'm mainly just sad because I enjoy being around her SO much. AND she's taking another one of my besties with her, her sissy Vanessa!!! That also means that Addie's best friend Trevor will be leaving too. Come on now!!! Addie is gonna have a hard time saying goodbye to as she calls them "Uncle Ron, cousin Trevor, Toria, and Nessa". :(

my husband

While he frustrates the HECK out of me with his love of video games and his inability to finish a home improvement project through to 100% without some mega nagging, I sure do love that man. He is such a good dad to his girls, and has such a kind heart. Every month when I go to play Bunco (my one "girls" night) a month, he takes Addie on a date. Last week he took her to Chuck-E-Cheese and they played all kinds of games and ate pizza. He is such my opposite in so many ways. I would never consider taking Addie there "just because" for fear of germs, sick kids, and just how darn expensive it is (and possibly because growing up my Dad referred to it as "upchuck cheese"--GROSS!) but he knew it was something she'd LOVE and treated her to a night of fun. He NEVER complains if I want to order in dinner instead of cooking, even if we ordered in the night before, and is happy when I pack him peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. It doesn't take much to make him happy and I love that.

Front Porch

Did I mention I hate the front of our house??? It is truly ugly... with some awful iron work and a red, green, and blue awning over the terrible leaded glass front door. The plan was to add a porch right after doing the kitchen, but the kitchen ended up being more than we expected and we didn't have the funds for a porch. Out of curiosity, I got a quote the other day for a porch and it was $11,000. Sigh. Looks like the porch will have to wait longer... We have another estimate due in this week, so we will see. Though if our utility bill isn't cheaper we won't need a porch because we will be relocating to a smaller, more tightly insulated home or we'll be under a bridge somewhere from the utilities breaking the bank!!!

Hairless?

Almost three years ago Jarom gave me a birthday gift of "laser hair removal" for my legs and arm pits (I requested it due to my hatred of shaving!). I was supposed to get 10 treatments and was supposed to have no hair left after the treatments were finished... Liars!!! 22 treatments later and I do have LESS hair, but there is definitely hair! Darn.

A kind word

A girl I went to high school with sent me a note on facebook today that brightened my day:

"Hey! I had read someone's post on Facebook and It had really upset me BUT it had made me think about you and I wanted to say THANK You for sharing your struggles and having a kind word about Parent hood! Being a first time parent I am GREATFUL for MOTHERS like you!"

I know I post a lot of random things on facebook and probably "over share" about our "poo/puke mishaps" that I find slightly amusing or disgusting, but at least SOMEONE appreciates it, haha!!!

Blessing

In my patriarchal blessing it says that I will be a leader among women. I have always pondered what that meant and it has been on my mind the last few days. When I was younger I thought, "oh crap, they are gonna make me the Relief Society president one day!!!" Hopefully that WON'T happen, haha, but if nothing else, I am to be a leader for my two girls. I think the Lord knows me and knew that I would be better with girls than boys (boys really scare the mess out of me with all of their wild energy!). And maybe (possibly) just by "keeping it real" I am helping other women, like the new mom.

And if anyone is STILL reading this...now my girls are awake from naps (yes I am on day 3 of my quest to conquer nap time again since Addie hadn't napped since Livy's arrival) so it is time to start getting dinner together.